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An Invisible Thread

The True Story of An 11-year-old Panhandler, A Busy Sales Executive, and An Unlikely Meeting With Destiny

He asked for spare change; she kept walking. But something made her turn around and go back. They met nearly every week for years, and built an unexpected, life-changing friendship that has today spanned almost three decades.

From the critics

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I really enjoyed this narrative. I would love to learn about similar stories, I wonder if I have passed up similar opportunities to help someone. I think it opened my mind to other people's situations in life and reminds me not to be judgemental, "there but for the grace of God go I". I am glad she shared her story and hope it inspires us all to open our lives to others thoughts, way of life, culture, religion, etc.

There was more to this book than I anticipated when I picked it up. I imagined something like a Chicken Soup for the Soul type story. This isn't a literary classic but the story has some real value.

I think what really matters is that on a human level, despite our varying life circumstances, we experience the same emotions and struggles. Some reviews have criticized her personal story but I think it was very relevant, especially her relationship with her parents. I was surprised when she told the part about them all as children in the car with her raging father behind the wheel. I know a similar story from my mother's family, one from my own family and my son could tell one about his father. There are common threads for all of us.

Any act of kindness and nurturing, even when it cannot be sustained, strengthens resilience in children. Studies show that. Some spark of hope can be enough to motivate them and remind them that someone cared.

Readers should remain highly sceptical of 'True Stories', especially when the author is his/her own protagonist. An INVISIBLE THREAD serves as an example as to why.
Writing the book may have proved cathartic for Ms. Schroff, but reading it proved boring to me: far too self-aggrandizing and sycophantic for my liking (Yeah, everybody look at me!).
I can just imagine the New York Times want-ad; "Well-off, white, middleclass , liberal woman seeks, young, underprivileged, black kid needing me to lift him up by his boot straps. Object - to assuage my liberal guilt resulting from a privileged life."
Ms. S. had an violent, alcoholic father. So! Get over it.

3.5 - This was an endearing story. I'll admit, I struggled with it. It's very similar to "The Blind Side" and some of the parts about her privilege and his lower class and their races bothered me. It was unsettling and I don't know if that was in a good way or a bad way. That being said, if you look at it as a story about two people who found each other, and who helped heal each other: it's beautiful. It's honest and evokes such empathy. That's why I liked it.

bibliotechnocrat
Jun 10, 2015

The Dickensian difference between the lives of the privileged white narrator and the panhandling kid provides some insight into the lives of the inner city poor. Laura, an advertising exec, is somehow drawn to this child, and begins to provide him with meals and other necessities. Inadvertently she also gives him a framework for another kind of life and he is ultimately able to apply the lessons and make a life for himself. Heartwarming and inspiring, to be sure, but somehow the text is unsatisfying. I never got past the uncomfortable feeling that the narrator had never properly analyzed her motivations.

Busy with her own agenda as a sales executive it was never in her plans to stop that day but something made her go back and by this act of kindness it changed her life and that of an 11 year old panhandler forever. A beautiful inspiring true story!

sweetpea43
Aug 01, 2014

A good read - sometimes shocking in the content - but an honest portrayal of life in the streets and projects of New York.

This nonfiction work reads like a novel which should promote an interesting discussion at the July Willa Cather Book Club. Although Laura Schroff and Maurice Mazyck come from different economic worlds, they share a common bond of abusive childhoods. This quick read follows the 10-year journey from an almost missed encounter on a Manahattan street to a mother-son relationship that changes both their lives. This book is a good choice for a book club as it explores the themes of overcoming adversity, family, and good vs. bad choices.

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In An Invisible Thread (Howard Books/Simon & Schuster) by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski, Schroff—a former ad executive— chronicles her friendship with an 11-year-old homeless boy that helped both of them find healing from their violent, troubled childhoods.--The Christophers, Inc.